Little niggle but Maroons show more fight than Blues in series opener
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Nobody won the fight, mostly because there wasn’t one. Just some vigorous push-and-shove with Tom Gilbert’s face turning various shades of red.
Nobody won the spectacle, either. This was a stop-start match played on a greasy field and punctuated by the shrill sound of referee Ashley Klein’s whistle, although it was a typically gripping Origin nonetheless.
What matters most is that Queensland won the match 26-18, although precisely how is anyone’s guess when you consider how much went against them.
What will matter most in the days that follow is that NSW couldn’t secure a victory despite having all the ball, all the territory, but none of the precision or temperament needed to ice the match when it was there to be iced.
What the answers will be is unclear but getting Nicho Hynes on the field before the 68th-minute mark is a good place to open the discussion.
The Maroons were brave. When aren’t they?
Maroons players celebrate one of Selwyn Cobbo’s two tries in Adelaide.Credit: Getty
They lost Gilbert early due to a shoulder injury, David Fifita for a period because of a head injury assessment, and then Tom Flegler to the sin bin for the final 10 minutes, but once again they resembled the living dead, refusing to give up.
They kept turning up defensively all over the park, none better than Reuben Cotter with 48 tackles, and worked tirelessly in the middle, none better than Patrick Carrigan and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
NSW never looked like winners, even when they were ahead on the scoreboard at various stages late in the match.
When hooker Api Koroisau scored a rubbery try early in the second half, giving his side a 10-12 lead, it never felt enough. When Stephen Crichton scored, giving his side an 18-16 lead, it never felt enough.
Queensland desperation, as much as a distinct lack of NSW polish, is what determined this result even if their victory came from tries to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Cameron Munster when they were down to 12 men.
They were smart, too. Much like last year’s series, the Blues’ attack was stymied each time it shifted wide, with the Maroons’ outside backs racing in and suffocating NSW halves Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai.
In the first half, they looked like a team that hadn’t trained, blowing numerous chances on the Maroons line.
As expected, Cleary peppered rookie fullback Reece Walsh with an array of kicks — and none of them really worked.
Walsh spewed in the sheds before kick-off and looked nervous when he first came onto the field, but he handled the challenge with youthful aplomb.
Queensland had no ball and no territory but when they did, courtesy of two NSW penalties, they scored, first off Tabuai-Fidow and then Selwyn Cobbo.
When it was the Blues’ turn to attack, they were disjointed and panicked. When they did get over the line, first through James Tedesco then Tyson Frizell, Maroons winger Murray Taulagi held them up over the line.
The only time the Blues looked like scoring was when they looked like Penrith. Their first try came from a signature play from the defending premiers: a Cleary no-look pass to Luai, who hand-delivered the short ball to back-rower Liam Martin to score.
At 10-6, the Blues were alive in a match in which they had no right to be alive.
As for the aggression, the niggle, the fights, it didn’t really eventuate.
The only real semblance of the fight advertised by the Blues all week was a couple of early skirmishes between rookie Blues forward Hudson Young and Maroons halfback Daly Cherry-Evans and his protector, Gilbert.
In the second half, there were some enthusiastic headlocks but the melees were a long way from the all-ins of yore when they went on, seemingly, for days.
Few remember who won the fight as much as who won the series.
NSW can keep the series alive with victory in game two at Suncorp Stadium on June 21. Under Brad Fittler, the Blues have won just once in five matches in Brisbane, and it will require a dramatic rethink if they’re to take the series to a decider in Sydney.
Both sides can take the advice plastered all over the walls of the Queensland dressing room: “NEVER GIVE UP”.
If they win in Brisbane, they’ll never shut up.
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